Friday, January 31, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, January 31, 2014

Conflicts

O God,

Bring peace to those people who are embroiled in civil strife and conflict; we think in these days especially of the people of South Sudan, of Syria, and of Ukraine. Move in the hearts of the people in those places—and in the hearts of the leaders on all sides—that they might grow toward knowing and pursuing grace, forgiveness, justice, and reconciliation.

Bless us also, O God, for even though we are not involved in a civil war, we are beset by division, tension, and strife. Help us to do the hard but necessary work of trying to understand each other, of trying to see others’ point of view, and of building and maintaining personal relationships with those who think and live differently than we do.

Let peace begin in us—but don’t let it end with us.

Amen.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, January 30, 2014

Time

O God,

Thank you for the time we have; help us to make good use of it. Help us to be

receptive to your guidance,
grateful for our abilities,
creative in our work,
reflective in our rest, and
faithful in our relationships.

Help us to make the best possible use of the great gift that every second we live is.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Pause

O God,

Give us the willingness and the discipline to pause, to take a moment every now and then

to catch our breath,
to become aware of self,
to listen for you,
to ponder the possibilities,
to get our bearings,
to evaluate our motives, and
to be grateful.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Choices

O God,

We know that we make hundreds of choices every day. Most of them require little or no thought; some of them demand much thought and sometimes even agonizing internal debate.

We thank you that our choices make a difference because in that reality lie the possibilities and the tensions in and out of which we do our best growing, learning, and trusting.

Guide us through our experiences, our sense, and your Spirit to make choices that best accomplish your will, that best help us to grow toward being who we are, and that best help us to help others.

Amen.

Monday, January 27, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, January 27, 2014

Draw

O God,

Draw us

nearer to you and
nearer to ourselves and
nearer to others

that we might not

draw quick conclusions

about any of us

but rather might

draw a true picture

of the way we all really are.

Amen.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

We praise you for sending Jesus to be the Light of the world.

We thank you for the privilege of being drawn to that Light and for the privilege and responsibility of reflecting that Light.

While we recognize that our reflecting of the Light will always be imperfect, we nonetheless ask you to help us to reflect it as accurately as we possibly can.

Let it be that others see Jesus in us …

Amen.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, January 25, 2014

Listen

O God,

Thank you that you listen to your children praying.

Help us be the kind of children who listen to what our Father is saying.

Amen.

Friday, January 24, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, January 24, 2014

Hope

O God,

Help us to live in hope.

Help us to live

in light of your future
in light of your purpose,
in light of your eternity,

and

to live in light of the resurrection, both

that of Jesus which has already come

and

that of ourselves
which is yet to come
and
in the power of which we already live.

Amen.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, January 23, 2014

Beneath

O God,

Give us patience and perspective to see beneath the surface

of situations
of reactions
and
of positions

whether they belong to us or to someone else

so that we will not

jump to conclusions
make snap judgments
or
perpetuate stereotypes

but will rather pursue and see more of

the truth that is

rather than

the “truth” that is

put forth
hoped for and
clung to.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Understanding

O God,

Increase our understanding

of people,
of situations,
of cultures,
of history,
of ourselves,
and
of perspectives

so that we can approach life and relate to people

with rationality,
with reasonableness,
with respect,
with sympathy,
and even with
empathy

and always and above all else

with love and grace.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Open

O God,

Open

our eyes
our ears
our mind
our heart
our spirit
our life

to

your love
your grace
your mercy
your forgiveness
your peace
your way

so that we will

live
love
serve
give
help and
bless.

Amen.

Monday, January 20, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, January 20, 2014

Justice

“Let justice roll down like waters”—and let it begin in us.

Let justice roll down like waters

in our personal relationships,
in our community,
in our nation, and
in our world.

As we pray for it
let us work for it;
as we work for it
let us pray for it.

Amen.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Let our worship of you today remind us

that you abide with us and
that we abide with you.

Show us how to grow
in our awareness and experience of our fellowship
with you

That we might also grow
in our awareness and experience of our fellowship
with our sisters & brothers.

Remind us today
that we are not alone and
that we are never alone.

Amen.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, January 18, 2014

Rich

O God,

Make us rich in the things that matter most; make us rich

in love,
in grace,
in forgiveness,
in mercy,
in faith,
in peace,
in service, and
in generosity.

As for material riches, guide us

in coming by them ethically, honestly, and gratefully

and

in using them

to help those in need and
to help find solutions to the situations that put them in need.

Amen.

Friday, January 17, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, January 17, 2014

Narrow/Broad

O God,

Narrow our focus so that we will want only

to know,
to love, and
to serve you

and

broaden our perspective so that we will see you

in wherever,
in whatever, and
in whoever

you are.

Amen.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, January 16, 2014

Eyes

O God,

Help us to keep

our eyes on you
so we won’t sink
(and so when we do sink we’ll look to you to save us);

our eyes on ourselves
so we won’t stumble
(and so when we do stumble we’ll admit it, repent, and move on);

and

our eyes on others
so we will share
(and so when we don’t share we’ll realize it and move toward generosity and sacrifice).

Amen.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lift

O God,

Lift our eyes toward
you
so that
we might stay
aware of and
attentive to and
responsive to
you.

Then …

Lift our eyes toward
others
so that
we might stay
aware of and
attentive to and
responsive to
them.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Discernment

O God,

Help us to know

when to speak and when to remain silent,
when to stand up and when to sit back,
when to tolerate and when to embrace,
when to stay and when to go,
when to hold on and when to let go,
when to question and when to trust,
when to work and when to rest, and
when to give and when to give more.

Amen.

Monday, January 13, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, January 13, 2014

Serve

O God,

Since we follow
the One
who came
to serve
rather than
to be served,

form in us
minds and hearts
that want
to serve
rather than
to be served

so that we will
look for and
take advantage of
every opportunity
to serve
others

and so be true followers
of the One
who came
to serve
rather than
to be served.

Amen.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, January 12, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

As Jesus went out after his baptism

affirmed in his sonship,
endowed with the Spirit, and
strengthened by his obedience,

ready and committed to live in the world
as the faithful servant who would give himself away
for your glory and
for the sake of others,

so help us to go out inspired by our baptism through

the assurance of our identity,
the power of your Spirit, and
a commitment to your way

that will lead us to give ourselves away
for your glory and
for the sake of others.

Amen.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, January 11, 2014

Peace

O God,

Grant us your peace

so that

we can be instruments of your peace

in our relationships with individuals

and

in our involvement in our community

and

in our world.

Amen.

Friday, January 10, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, January 10, 2014

Forgiveness

O God,

May our gratitude for your forgiveness of us

spill over into our forgiveness of others

and may our forgiveness of others

turn others toward your forgiveness of them

so that

your forgiveness of them will

spill over into their forgiveness of others

and so on and so on and so on …

Amen.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, January 9, 2014

Life

O God,

Give us

a life spirit of love

that leads to

a life stance of vulnerability

that leads to

a life style of service.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Authenticity

O God,

Help us to grow in authenticity; help us always to be becoming who you made us to be.

Thank you for making us and for giving us the opportunity to experience growth and progress. Thank you that you can and will work through our circumstances and choices to form us into more authentic beings; give us grace to work through and to be open to how you work through our circumstances and choices to form us into the most authentic selves that we can be.

Help us to grow in our awareness of the layers of protection we have over the years laid over ourselves and to let you help us to peel them away. At the same time, help us to grow in our awareness of the positive ways that we have grown and to let you help us to develop and to increase them.

These lives are a gift; give us grace to live them honestly and fully.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Obedience

O God,

Help us to grow in our obedience today.

Do not allow us to settle for an obedience that comes from trying to follow the rules, even the rules that we find or think we find in your Book.

Instead, help us to grow into an obedience that comes from—

--your love for us that calls forth our love for you;
--your Spirit in us that teaches and guides us;
--your Son in us who inspires us to a life of sacrifice and service; and
--your grace and mercy in us that causes us to display grace and mercy.

Help us to grow into an obedience that goes beyond keeping the rules to having a heart that reflects your heart so that our obedience will emerge from our relationship with you.

Amen.

Monday, January 6, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, January 6, 2014

Epiphany

O God,

We praise you that in your Son Jesus Christ you made yourself known to everybody and that you made your salvation available to everybody.

Help us never to take such knowledge and such a life for granted; help us to use every means available to us to know you better and to develop our relationship with you. Help us to learn of you from the lives all around us, from the Scripture that you gave us, from the prayers that we pray, and from our ongoing communion with your Holy Spirit.

Thank you for the grace that brings you to us; give us continuing grace that we might continually bring ourselves before you.

Amen.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, January 5, 2014

Twelfth Day of Christmas/Second Sunday of Christmas

O God,

We worship you today as the God who comes to us to comfort us and to challenge us.

Thank you that you are with us to comfort us when we are grieving, when we are anxious, when we are searching, and when we are sick.

Thank you that you are with us to challenge us when we are arrogant, when we are complacent, when we are apathetic, and when we are wrong.

Give us grace to accept your comfort and give us grace to accept your challenge; give us wisdom to know which one we need.

May our worship today be pleasing to you as we praise you for all the ways that you come to us.

Amen.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, January 4, 2014

Eleventh Day of Christmas

O God,

Thank you for the ways in which every day can be—should be—is—like Christmas.

After all, you are with us, in us, and among us every moment of every day; there is never a time when your presence is not a reality.

Since Jesus is Immanuel—“God with us”—and since God is love, cause us to grow so that your perpetual presence with us leads to our perpetual practice of the kind of love that only your presence can make possible.

Let your love which causes you to give and forgive lead us to become ever more giving and forgiving.

Amen.

Friday, January 3, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, January 3, 2014

Tenth Day of Christmas

O God,

Thank you for your constant presence; thank you that you are always with us to lead and to guide us.

Help us not to be amazed when you lead us in loud, obvious, and extraordinary ways but help us also not to miss your promptings and nudges that come to us in quiet, subtle, and ordinary ways.

Having felt your guidance, help us to follow as well as we can.

Amen.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, January 2, 2014

Ninth Day of Christmas

O God,

We praise you for the way in which the coming of your Son Jesus was an extraordinary event that occurred under ordinary circumstances. We praise you that he was born of woman and of the Spirit; we praise you that heavenly beings proclaimed his birth to ordinary shepherds who were living their ordinary lives.

As we live our ordinary lives, make us sensitive to the extraordinary things that happen within us, among us, and around us. Give us eyes that see, ears that hear, minds that comprehend, and spirits that discern. Make us alert to the ways in which your Son makes himself known in the events that we experience and in the people that we encounter.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Eighth Day of Christmas

O God,

Thank you that you purposed to do something about our condition and situation; thank you that, even though you had to pay a heavy price, you followed through on what you purposed to do.

Help us to learn from your intentionality; help us, when we realize the price that love demands from us, to follow through and to do what we can do—even if the cost to us is great.

First, though, give us eyes that see and hearts that feel what our sisters and brothers are experiencing and especially what is hurting them. Then, show us what love calls us to do. Then, give us strength and commitment to do what needs to be done.

Amen.